Illuminated house number



April 16, 1929, BELDIN 1,709,202

ILLUMINATED HOUSE NUMBER Filed July 14, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet l Kym/5r 562 0/44 01% M ATTOfi EY'.

April 16, 1929. I K, B L N 1,709,202

ILLUMINATED HQUSE. NUMBER Filed July 14. 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Apr. 16, 1929.

UNITED STATES 1,709,202 PATENT OFFICE.

KENNETH IBELDIN, or GLENDALE, CA IFORNIA.

ILLUMINATED HOUSE NUMBER.

Application filed July 14,

My invention relates to electrically illuminated signs and more particularly to an electrically illuminated housev number.

In all illuminable house numbers 'on.the market other than mine,.the lamps thereof are wired with rubber-covered 110 volt wire which is required by law to be run to the box of the house number, through a pipe conduit. This makesthe installation of the ordinary illuminatedhouse numberan expensive feature 'ofhouse building. In case the ilumicandle-power lamp, burning at night, causes nated house number is installed after the house has been built, the cost is so great, that while these numbers have been on the market. many years and while they are very desirable to have to inform persons of the location-of the house at night, the sale of such numbers has been very small. Although the lamps drawing the lowest amperage possible from the 110 VOlt circuits may be used in these old illuminable house numbers even this low considerable heat in the box of the house num-- her and uses up sufficient current to cost' for maintenance between three and four dollars a month for burning the lam only during'the dark hours of the day.. An additional installation expense is also necessary to provide a conduit box and a wall switch where by the circuit of the house number lamp could be turned on each evening and turned off the following morning. The daily turning on and off of this switch requires the attention of the house owner and in a majority of cases, the switch is neglected, causing the number to be dark at night or else doubling its excessive maintenance cost by burning the lamp through the daylight hours. -It is a broad object of my invention to provide an illuminated house number having a low voltage circuit and a low voltage lamp associated witlra constant source of electricity at low voltage.

The above feature permits the illuminated house number of my invention to be installed at a very low cost and to be kept lighted twenty-four hours a day ata small fraction of the maintenance-expense incidental to the usefdurirrg the dark hours, of the old house numbers illuininated'by the 110 volt circuit.

In addition to saving the expense of installing .the conduit, the box of the illumina-- ble house number of myinvention, being,

lighted by a low voltage circuit, maybe made of much lighter'and therefore cheaper metal 1926. Serial No. 122,384.

than the heavy metal required by law in many States for metal boxes into which wires carrying 110 volts must pass. It is another object of my invention to provide an electrically illuminated house numher which is of an extremely simple structure comprising a small number of parts which may be cheaply formed and easily assembled,

thus enabling an illuminated house number i to be put on the market at a relatively low price at considerable profit to the manufacturer.

Other objects and advantages of my invention are made manifest in the following which: Fig. l is aperspective view showing the illuminated house number of my invention applied to a wall of a dwelling in which the outer surface thereof is formed of wooden s iding.- 1 j Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional/view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1 u

Fig. '3 is a horizontal sectional view taken onthe line 3.3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the light receptacle clip of my invention.

description and accompanying drawing in Fig. 5 is a vertical sectional View of a? modified form of my invention. r

Fig.1} 1s a horizontal sectional view takenon the line 6 6 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the l modified foi'mof my invention, which is' shown in Fig. 5, installed in a brick wall of a dwelling so that the outer face thereof lies flush with the outer surface of the wall.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view illustrating I the installation of the novel low voltage cir- CLLIlJ Of my invention.

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the low voltage electric circuit of my invention.

Fig. 10 is a front elevational Viewof the 2 thereof. A door 12 is provided in the frame as illustrated in Fig. 1. Outside of a jamb 13 of the door-12 is a hole 14 formed in the siding 11 in which the illuminated house number 15 of my invention is inserted.

The house number 15 has a box like structure 16 in which a central member 19 is formed, entirely by bending, from a sheet of metal 20. .The sheet 20 is rectangular, having a horizontal dimension X, as shown in Fig. 3, and" it is bent horizontally at'21 to form upper and lower diverging reflecting walls 22 and 23. The wall 22 is bent at its upper end toform a horizontal wall 24.. At the outer edge of the horizontal wall 24, the sheet 20 is bent downward and upward against itself to form an upper number-glass retaining lip 25. As the upper end of the lip 25 the sheet. 20 is bent rearward so as to lie flush against the upper surface of the wall 24 thus forming an upper horizontal wall 28. The

wall 28 extends inward, as shown in Fig. 2,

being bent upward atits inner edge to form an upper attaching flange 30. The reflecting wall 23 inclines forward and downward, as shown best'in 'Fig. 2, to a point directly below the outer edge of the upper horizontal wall 24. Here the sheet20 is bent upward a given distance and then downward upon it self to form a lower glass retaining lip '33.

The outer lower portion of the lip 33 of the sheet 20 is bent inward and upward to'lie flush against the lower face of the reflecting wall 23 for a short distance from the lower edge thereof. The sheet 20 is bent downwardly so as to form a lower connecting flange 35. Rectangular sheet metal ends 38 and 39 abut against opposite ends of the central member 19 which is formed entirely by bending the rectangular described. I

The forward edges of the sheet metal sheet 20 as above ends 38 and 39 are bent backward upon themselves to form outer retaining flanges 40 and 41 and then bent inward to form inner retaining flanges 42 and 43. The ends 38 and 39 are soldered to the central member 19. so that the outer retaining flanges 40 are disposed oppositeythe space directly behind the upper and lower retaining lips 25 and 33 and so that the inner retaining flanges 42 and 43 are disposed rearward a given-distance from the outer ends of the lips 25 and 33.

A light receptacle clip 44 which is best illustrated in Fig. 4 is formed of a single strip of metal 45 of uniform width which is bent upon itself centrally at 46 so that opposite halves 47 and 48 thereof lie flush againsteach other. Both of the halves 47 and 48 are bent at 49 to provide a securing lug 50 adjacent to the bend 46 and an arm 52 which is formed by the free ends of the halves 47' vide arcuate opposed retaining members 53 .and 54 adapted tosecurely grip a receptacle 55 which contains a light bulb 56. The securing lug 50of the light receptacle clip 54 is soldered to the lower portion of the reflecting wall 22. The arm 52 projects horizontally outward into a light chamber 58 located between the upper and lower reflecting walls 22 and 23. Electricity is supplied to the light bulb 56 through the receptacle 55 by means of insulated wires 60 which lead from the receptacle 55 through a hole 61 formed in the lower reflecting wall 23, to a suitable source of electricity (not shown).

A'rectangular number-glass plate '65 is adapted to be inserted into a rectangular opening 66 in the front of the box 16 which is bounded upon its upper and lower edges by lips 25 and 33 and upon its side edges by flanges 40 and 41. The glass 65 is of the width, as indicated in Fig. 3, such as to permit it to be disposed between the side flanges 40 and 41. In order to place the glass 65 in the opening 66 it is first disposed in the position indicated by the dotted line 67 in Fig. 2 in which the upper edge of the glass 65 is inserted between the upper lip 25 and the inner flanges 42 and 43. The lower end of the glass 65 may then be swung inward over the upper edge of the lip 33 and allowed to drop downward between this lip and the inner retaining flanges 42 and 43. The upper edge of the glass 65 is then disposed above the lower edge of the lip 25 so as to be hid bythis lip. The rear face of-the glass 65 is provided with decalcomania numbers in which the surfaces the numbers are translucent and the surface surrounding the numbers is opaque.

. flanges 30 and 35 are then in contact with the siding 11 bordering the upper and lower portions of thehole 14 and are secured thereto by screws 7 The box structure 16 of the illuminated. house number 15 is formed of four pieces of metal. These are the rectangular bodyforming-sheet 20, the two rectangular ends 38 and 39, and the strip 45 which is used to form'the light receptacle clip 44. Inasmuch as all these pieces of metal are rectangular in shape, there is no loss of metal when these pieces are cut fromlarger sheets. Moreover, the dies by which these parts are formed are very simple and cheap in construction and may be operated at a high speed.

The clip 44 is of novel construction inasmuch as the arm 52 is formed of free end portions of the opposite halves 47 and 48 of the metallic strip 45. The arcuate end portions 53 and 54 of the half portions 47'and 48 therefore grip the receptacle 55 with a resilient pressure which tends to retain this receptacle 55 firmly in "place. v I

In case it is desired to install the illuminated house number in a stucco. Wall, the

the stucco is to be applied. The flanges 30 and 35 are then secured (in the manner shown) to the lathingabove and below the hole 1 1'. \Vhen the stucco is plastered upon the lathing it may be of such thickness so that its outer surface will be substantially flush with the front face of the body,16. The flanges 30 and 35 will then be disposed between the lathing and the stucco and in addition to being secured to the lath by the screws 70, they will be gripped by the stucco and r the laths and thus be secured rigidly in position.

A modified form of illuminated house number 79 is shown in Fig. 5. Here a peripheral wall 80, forming upper and lower walls 81 and 82 and end walls 83, is made from a .single rectangular piece of metal, the opposite ends of which are soldered together at a corner of the peripheral wall 80 At the rear edges of the peripheral wall 80an abutting flange 84 is formed inward for the purpose ofstrengthening. the wall 80 andproviding anabutment to rest against a wall 86 against which it might be desiredto mount the house number 79. The end walls'83 of th peripheral wall 80 form the sides of a light chamber 88. A single rectangular sheet of metal 90 is bent at 91 to form upper and lower diverging reflecting walls 92 and 93.

The upper reflecting wall 92 is .bent to form. a horizontal, wall 9 1- which lies flush againstr the inner surface of, the upper wall 81 at the forward edge thereof. At the forward edge of the horizontal wall 94; the sheet 90 is bent downward and upward againsteits'elf to form an'upper lip 95. The outerportion of the upper lip 95 extends upward,'being bent in-. ward to form a flange 96 which lies flush against the upper face of the forward edge of the upper wall 81. The lower reflecting wall 93 extends forward and downward to its loweredge, where it is bent upward and downward against itself to form a lower lip 98 which is disposed directl beneath the lip 95; Theouter-portion of t e lip 98 extends rearward so as to form a flange 98 whichlies flush against the lower face of the lower wall 82 at its forward edge. The reflecting walls 9 92 and 93 are soldered to the peripheral wall 80 when positioned as shown in Fig. 5. Thus the walls 92 and 93 co-operate with the end walls 83 to enclose thelight chamber 88 which has a front opening 99 bounded at the top and bottom by the upper and lower lips 95 and 98 and at the sides by the front edges of the end walls'83. As shown in Fig. 6', rear stop flanges 100'are provided, each of which has a vertical socket 101 formed integral therewith at its outer edge which fits and is soldered to the front edge of one of the end walls 83. a When thus secured the flanges 100 are disposed rearward a short distance bet hind the upper and lower lips 95 and 98. i A hole 14 is formed in the lathing upon which number glass 102 may be installed in the front opening 99 of the light chamber 88 in:

the same manner as the number glass is installed inthe illuminated house number 15.

The illuminated house number 7 9 may be secured upon the outer surface of the wall 86 by means of flat head screws 106 which pass through holes in the metal sheet 90- at the apex 91, as best shown in Fig. 5. The modi-'- lied form of illuminated house number 79 is built inthe same size as common brick,

such as is used in the formation of a wall of a shown in Figs. 5,6 and 7 which illustrates the modified form of my willuminated house number. 2 v

As illustrated in Fig. 12, the lower lip 33 of the ,boX structure 16 of the illuminated house number 15 is bent upward a short dis tance outward from the forward edge of the side flanges 40 and 411. Thus a small opening 106 is provided at the bottom .of the trough formedbelow the lower edge of. the number glass 65 between the lower lip 33 and the lower reflecting wall-23. This opening 106 is provided as a drain forwater whichcollects upon the face of the number (glass due to conditions of the weather and which flows downward therefrom into the trough beneath the lower edge of the number glass 65.

As clearly shown in Fig. 10, the lower ends.

of the inner retaining flanges 12 and 13 are bent forward to form supporting lugs 108 and 109. These lugsfare' disposed above the.

bottom of the trough, which is located below the number glass 65, so that whenthe num-- ber glass 65 is dropped into. place behind the lower lip 33 the glass will drop down ward only a portion of the height of the lower lip 33. This will cause the upper edge 110 of the number glass 6,5 to be retaineda fair distance above the lower edge of the upper glass retaining lip 25. The lugs 108 and 109. also support the number glass- 65 so thata space 111 is provided beneath the number glass reach the openings 106 formed at opposite ends of the lower lip33.

" In Fig. 11 the housenumber 15 "of my in- Here the ends 38 and 39 are attached by nails 115 to the studding 116 so that the flanges 30 and 35 rest against the upper and ,1 65 along which water may-course in order to ventionis shown as it is installed in a stucco 'wall;

In Fig. 8, ll have shown the perspective 3 view of a bungalow in which parts thereof convey the electricity from the Switch-box 132 through metallic tubular conduits 133 to are broken away to illustrate the great economy eifected in the wiring of the house number of my invention. In this view, 130 indicates a house through the exterior structure of which electricity, having a potential of approximately 110 volts, is conveyed by the conduit 131 to a fuse and switch-box 132. Wires the various lighting outlets 134, which are disposed at various outlets 134 a T 135 must be provided in the conduit 133 and a branch conduit 136must be run from the T 135: downward through a Wall 137 to a suitable point where the branch conduit 136 terminates in a metallic box 138 upon the face of which a switch plate 139 is installed. It is required by law that each outlet be proyidedwith the conduits'and fixtures just described. In the old form of house number, which has been in use prior to my invention, it is necessary to run a conduit 133 from the'switch-box' 132 the full length of the house 130 to'illuminate a house number 15 which it was'desired to install, as indicated, in the front wall 140 of the house 130. .Inaddition to this lighting conduit it was necessary to provide a switch outlet by which the light placed in the house number 15 might be turned on at night and turned off in the morning. a

"In my invention I utilize a low voltage transformer 146, which supplies current through suitable wires 147 and 148 which lead tothe switch-box 132 of the lighting circuit -of the house- 130. The illuminated house number"15, of my invention, is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 9 with the lamp 56 thereof connected to low voltage Wires 160 and 161 and to secondary terminals 162 and 163 of the transformer 146. There being no i 7, switch in the wires 160 and 161 the lamp 56 will, be constantly illuminated by vcurrent drawn from the low voltage transformer 146.

The advantages of the low voltage circuit, illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 9, are graphically shown in the perspective view of Fig. 8. In this view it will be seen that instead of an expensive conduit 133 leading from the switch-box 132 to the light house number 15 in the front of the house, I have convenient stations throughout the house 130. For each of the merely to install the inexpensive low voltage transformer 146 with a pair of lowvoltage annunciator wires 160 and 161 leading therefrom to the house number 15. These wires 160 and 161 may be tacked, as indicated, by the tacks 165 upon a beam 166 of the under-structure of the house 130. The low voltage wires 160 and 161 are formed of small gaged wire wrapped with parafiined cotton and are very inexpensive in first cost and in cost of installation. Thus, by the provision of an illuminated house number having a low voltage circuit, including a source of constant supply, I have removed the greatest obstacle to the furnishing of illuminated house numbers to the public at a low cost of installation and maintenance which is within the reach of the average income.

I claim as my invention:

1. An illuminated house number comprising end walls; a central member formed with upper and lower diverging reflecting walls and adapted to cooperate with said end members to form a light box, providing a light chamber having an indicia plate mounting space; upper and lower plate retaining lips bent inwardly in-front of said plate mounting space from upper and lower portions, of said reflecting walls respectively, of said central member, the forward edges of said end walls being disposed opposite the sides of said mounting space and being bent inwardly upon themselves; upper and lower securing flanges rebent from said plate retaining lips; flanges re-bent from said inbent edges of said end walls to lie behind said plate opening space; and an indicia plate adapted to be free ly inserted into or removed from said opening space by virtue of the vertical dimension of said plate being less than that of said opening space.

2. An illuminated house number comprising end walls; a transverse reflector member shaped to cooperate with said end walls to form a light box, providing a light chamber having an indicia plate mounting space; upper and lower plate retaining lips bent inwardly in front of said plate mounting space from upper and lower portions, respectively, of said reflector member, the forward edges of said end walls being, disposed opposite the sides of said mounting space; upper and lower securing flanges rebent from said plate retaining lips; side plate retaining lips formed inwardly from the forward portions of said endwalls to lie behind said plate mounting space; and an indicia plate adapted ,to be removably disposed in said space and retained in place at the front by said upper and lower lips, at the rear by said side plate retaining lips, and at the ends by said end walls and said flanges being adapted to be secured to the house structure for supporting said house number thereon.

3. An illuminated house number comprising: end walls; a central member bent medially in horizontal plane to form upper and lower diverging reflecting walls providing an horizontal portion ofsaid upper reflecting wall and being bent upward and downward indicia plate mounting space, said upper refleeting wall being bent at its upper end. to form a horizontal portion and having the outer edge of said horizontal portion bent downward and upward upon itself to form a" lip and an upper attaching flange, said lower reflecting wall inclining forward and downward to a point below the outer edge of the upon itself to form a lower lip, the outer lower end of said lip being bent inward and upward to lie flush against the lower surface of said lower reflecting wall and downwardly to form] v ture.

behind said plate opening space; and an in dicia plate adapted to be freely inserted into or removed from said. opening space and said attaching flanges being provided with securing means for the attachment of said end walls and reflector member to the house struc- In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand at LosfAngeles, California, this 8th day of July, 1926.

KENNETH BELDIN, 

